TGIF: Movie capsules for the week starting June 6

“THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2” — The cast and crew of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” have built on the promising groundwork laid with 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” and improved on it, giving the world arguably the best Spider-Man movie yet. This second film in the rebooted franchise — which, like the first, is directed by Marc Webb and stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone — is chock full of high-tech movie-making wizardry but never loses its heart. Like many a superhero movie, it’s predictable and drags a bit in the middle, but it is emotional and heart-stopping and well worth the price of a ticket. This Peter Parker (Garfield) absolutely loves being the Web-Slinger. When we catch up to Spidey, we’re right behind him as he’s swinging and flinging, dipping and diving, soaring and shooting between the buildings and through the streets of New York. He’s jubilant, and it’s infectious. (And this is the first of a handful of visually arresting sequences from Webb and the special-effects folks.) After thwarting an attempt by a Russian mobster (Paul Giamatti) to hijack a truck carrying plutonium, Peter just makes the end of his high school graduation, where, as the valedictorian, his girlfriend, Gwen Stacy (Stone), has given a speech. Gwen understands the sacrifices Peter makes to be Spider-Man, and they’re happy together. Or at least they would be if not for her father, a police captain (Denis Leary), telling Peter right before he died that Peter needs to stay away from Gwen if he wants her to be safe. Peter is seeing visions of Capt. Stacy everywhere and is overwhelmed by guilt. Soon, a new villain arises in the form of electricity-weilding Electro (Jamie Foxx), a former Oscorp electricity expert who had no friends but seemed to believe he has a close bond with Spider-Man. When an accident turns him into a an electricity-wielding monster and he subsequently threatens lives in Times Square by his mere presence, Spider-Man is forced to stop him, infuriating Electro. Meanwhile, Peter’s old friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) emerges from years of traveling to take over Oscorp after the death of his father, Norman (Chris Cooper). Before he dies, Norman reveals to Harry that he has passed his fatal disease on to his son, and Harry determines that Spider-Man’s blood may be the key to his survival. “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” plays out in predictable fashion, but it builds nicely to a pair of climatic confrontations that deliver the blockbuster thrills you’d expect from a big summer movie. And Webb handles all the action sequences masterfully, employing “Matrix”-like techniques of slow motion and revolving camera angles. As they were the first time around, Garfield and Stone are an appealing pair, both making their characters feel real and enjoying a fine chemistry together. And while Electro feels anything but real, Foxx does a nice job with the movie’s most cartoonish character, handling a few over-the-top lines with grace. DeHaan (“The Place Beyond the Pines,” “Lawless”), though, is a revelation, bringing believable emotion to Harry’s plight and reminding you of a young Leonardo DiCaprio. Look for bigger things from this young man. PG-13. 2 hours, 22 minutes. 3.5 stars
“BLENDED” — Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions churns out some of the most idiotic comedies to land on the big screen, such as last year’s “Grown Ups 2” and 2012’s “That’s My Boy.” Compared to its forebears, the romantic comedy “Blended” looks like “Annie Hall.” Of course, the bar is low. Sixteen years since Sandler starred opposite Drew Barrymore in “The Wedding Singer” and a decade since they starred together in “50 First Dates,” the pair have grown up, even if the comedy hasn’t. They play Jim and Lauren, two single parents who go on a disastrous blind date. Not only does Jim take Lauren to Hooters and drain her beer while she’s in the bathroom, but he only pays for his half of the tab. Worse, he beats Lauren to the punch getting an “emergency” call halfway through the date, which was exactly the exit strategy she was planning. Basically, Jim is a schlubby Mr. Darcy, antagonizing Lauren only to potentially win her over later, when the two, each with their children, coincidentally end up on the same African safari vacation for Brady Bunch-esque blended families. There are a lot of misses when it comes to the comedy, whether it’s seeing rhinos mid-coitus or the recurring gag of Lauren carrying one of her sleeping sons to bed and slamming his head into door jambs. “Blended” is more successful when it lets itself be sentimental. Jim’s middle daughter, Espn (Emma Fuhrmann) — pronounced “Espin,” her namesake is the television network — talks constantly to her dead mother, even saving seats for Jim’s late wife at the breakfast table. And his youngest daughter, Lou (the adorable Alyvia Alyn Lind), is in such desperate need of a mom figure, she latches onto Lauren the moment they meet. But the filmmakers, including director Frank Coraci (who also did “The Wedding Singer”), seem terrified to dwell in sensitive territory for too long. Each sweet moment is inevitably punctuated by some in-your-face joke that’s at least as stupid as the preceding moments were heartfelt. PG-13. 1 hour, 57 minutes. 2 stars
“GODZILLA” — If it’s not an age-old saying, it should be: You can’t please everybody with your Godzilla movie. The big lizard-dinosaur creature Godzilla has appeared in myriad flicks through the years. The latest attempt, called simply “Godzilla,” is out to please fans of big summer blockbusters as well as aficionados of monster movies. Director Gareth Edwards grew up on monster movies and clearly wanted to honor them. While committing no huge sins and even doing some nice things, Edwards’ “Godzilla” has many little blemishes that keep it from being a roaring fire-breather of a summer movie. The script has husband-and-wife scientists Joe (Bryan Cranston) and Sandra Brody (Juliette Binoche) working at a nuclear power plant outside Tokyo in 1999 when a mysterious accident with the reactor claims the latter’s life. We then jump to 2014, with an obsessed Joe still trying to figure out what happened on that fateful day and getting arrested for trying to go back to his home, which lies in an area still under quarantine. At the same time, his grown son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), is a bomb-disposal operative for the Navy (hmmm, think that will prove important later?) returning home to his wife, Elle (Elizabeth Olsen), and their young son, Sam (Carson Bolde), in San Francisco from a tour abroad. Ford reluctantly travels to Japan to help his father, who then drags Ford with him as he again tries to venture to his former home, this time succeeding but getting him and Ford scooped up by authorities right after. They are brought to the old plant, where something is clearly going on. What? Well, they’re monitoring a dormant monster who, of course, awakens and flies off. That’s right, it’s not Godzilla, who lies in the Pacific Ocean, but a winged creature that, turns out, is an enemy of the big lizard. It’s also a radiation-hungry dude unleashing a mating call for a female counterpart who soon is turning the Las Vegas strip into a disaster area. As humanity wonders how to stop Godzilla and the other two monsters, it slowly becomes apparent Godzilla may be on their side. So what’s wrong with this “Godzilla”? Let’s start with the lack of memorable characters. Cranston, so fantastic on “Breaking Bad,” is good as the paranoid-but-right scientist, but (spoiler alert) he’s not in the movie as much as you’d hope. While Taylor-Johnson (“Kick-Ass”) is a talented actor, too, he’s not given all that much to work with or a ton of screen time. In other words, “Godzilla” lacks a memorable and clearly defined hero. And then there’s the directing style of Edwards, who keeps much of the action at arm’s length — we’re sort of sitting back and watching the climactic clash between Godzilla and his foes — removing us from the danger. Edwards’ heart probably was in the right place, but other directors — even saddled with the same, sometimes-sloppy script — could have made more of a thrill ride. On the other hand, perhaps real monster-movie fans will appreciate the little touches such as referring to an original clash with Godzilla in 1954. And there are a few undeniably cool moments in the big battle that should please everybody. Maybe next time — and there’s sure to be one — Godzilla will truly rock again on the big screen. PG-13. 2 hours, 3 minutes. 2 stars
“HEAVEN IS FOR REAL” — Continuing the recent trend of faith-based films, including “Noah” and “Son of God,” ”Heaven Is for Real” is a sweet tale based on a 4-year-old boy’s account of his trip to heaven that’s likely to please the devout, but won’t entice religious cynics. There’s little doubt the T.D. Jakes-produced adaptation of Todd Burpo’s Christian non-fiction best-seller will have a built-in audience. After undergoing harrowing surgery for a ruptured appendix, young Colton Burpo (Connor Corum of Macedonia) begins recalling his journey for his family: Angels carried him to heaven where he met Jesus (played by Mike Mohrhardt, whose face we never quite see), as well as God, Colton’s great-grandfather and the miscarried sister he never knew he had. Such talk frightens his older sister (Lane Styles) and worries his pastor father, Todd (Greg Kinnear), and mother, Sonja (Kelly Reilly). As Colton becomes more verbal about his supposed encounter, the local paper in the small Nebraska town starts reporting the story. This leads some members of Todd’s congregation (Thomas Haden Church and Margo Martindale) to turn against the Burpo family. Though Todd sticks up for his son, his faith is also tested. “We ask these kids to believe this stuff,” he says to his wife, “but I don’t even know if I believe it myself.” But Todd is captivated, as we are, by his son’s innocence — especially when Colton tells him things he couldn’t possibly know, such as how he saw his parents cope, each in their own way, during his near-fatal surgery. As Colton, Corum does an excellent job of speaking softly, yet with conviction, and holding his gaze so we have time to study his sparkling blue eyes. Just when it seems we’re being subjected to too much of “the Word,” Colton cutely diverts our attention. During a road trip, he suggests the family sing “We Will Rock You” instead of a hymn. With the impressive computer-generated effects available today, this film could have used a more sophisticated depiction of heaven. OK, so it’s hard to imagine what heaven would look like, but this version looks far too generic, awash with glaring light and blurred angels. It’s no surprise that faith, hope and family prevail in this one. After all, says Todd in one of his sermons, “In the end, it’s about not feeling alone.” PG. 1 hour, 40 minutes. 2 stars
“MALEFICENT” — Maybe it’s too soon to say the tide has shifted definitively. But it’s certainly been a unique time for fairy-tale villains. After hundreds of years of moral clarity, suddenly we’re getting a new look at these evil creatures, who are actually turning out to be complex beings and not that bad at all. Really, they’ve just been misunderstood. (And, by the way, those charming princes? Highly overrated.) The most obvious recent example is “Frozen,” the animated Disney blockbuster that showed us how the Snow Queen, long portrayed as an icy-hearted villain, was actually a tragic victim of circumstance, with a pure and loving heart. And now we have “Maleficent,” which tells us that one of the most evil characters in all of pop culture is equally vulnerable and misunderstood. Plus, she’s gorgeous. Duh. She’s Angelina Jolie. now, 55 years after Disney introduced the character named Maleficent in its 1959 classic film — and colored her skin an eerie green — the studio is back with a live-action (not to mention 3D) Maleficent who’s more superheroine than evil fairy. And though Maleficent is no longer green-skinned, it’s hard not to think of another green-skinned villainess who’s also been rehabilitated, by means of the durable Broadway hit “Wicked”: the witch Elphaba from “The Wizard of Oz,” who, it turns out, we just didn’t know enough about. And so it is in “Maleficent,” in which director Robert Stromberg and screenwriter Linda Woolverton take us back to the fairy’s youth to better understand her. She’s a plucky young thing with lovely wings and bright pink lipstick, which will turn blood-red when she becomes an adult (the fairy world clearly isn’t lacking for cosmetics.) One day she meets a young man from that other, darker world, where humans live. The two form a strong bond. But the ugliest human emotions — jealousy and ambition — will intervene. Young Stefan will grow into the power-hungry older Stefan ( wild-eyed South African actor Sharlto Copley.) And his stunning betrayal of Maleficent will instantly harden her, turning her into the villainess we recognize. Alas, the story’s still all about a guy, in the end. But we digress. “Maleficent” is surely targeted to the same audience — young and female — which has so lovingly embraced “Frozen” and its appealing message of female solidarity and empowerment. But “Frozen” felt clever, charming and fresh. “Maleficent,” less so. Part of this is due, paradoxically, to Jolie’s star wattage. Don’t get us wrong: She’s the best thing about the movie and always worth watching. But it blunts the effectiveness of the narrative if we can never quite believe Maleficent is bad. That’s because we know she’s essentially good, and she seems to know that we know it: You can see it in the upturned wrinkle of her mouth. And frankly, the other characters are simply not that interesting — Stefan, but also Elle Fanning’s Aurora, or “Sleeping Beauty.” The best scenes Aurora has, in fact, are when she’s a gurgling baby and then, adorably, a toddler, played by none other than 5-year-old Vivienne Jolie-Pitt. (In the movie’s one laugh-out-loud moment, Maleficent tells Aurora: “I don’t like children.”) PG. 1 hour, 37 minutes. HH 1/2
“MILLION DOLLAR ARM” — Yes, “Million Dollar Arm” — a dramatization of the true story of two young Indian men who were found by a sports agent and turned into baseball pitchers with eyes on going pro — is from Disney. And yes, the family-friendly movie goes down easy and clearly was made for everyone from sports fans to parents who want something to entertain the whole family. But “Million Dollar Arm” never feels manipulative. It never goes over the top in its storytelling. It never tries to jerk every last tear from you. It’s not perfect or powerful, but it’s plausible, personal and entirely pleasant. Jon Hamm stars as agent J.B. Bernstein, who is desperate for a big score. He gets an idea while flipping between cricket and “American Idol:: Scour India in search of cricket players who could be taught to pitch — and pick them through a televised contest to increase exposure. He hooks an investor looking to make money in Asia and soon is off to India. J.B. spends most of the first half of this tale in Mumbai and other cities in India, and there’s a fun fish-out-of-water element to the goings on. He is soon joined by another American, a retired baseball scout named Ray (Alan Arkin), who sleeps through much of his time there. When he is awake, he usually at least has his eyes closed, but he’s able to tell almost exactly how fast a pitch was. He comes to life only when he hears one with “juice.” There isn’t much juice to be found in India, but they do eventually put together a field for the “Million Dollar Arm” competition, won by Rinku Singh (Suraj Sharma, the star of 2012’s “Life of Pi”) and Dinesh Patel (Madhur Mittal). J.B. goes back to the U.S. with Dinesh and Rinku, as well as Amit (Pitobash Tripathy), an Indian man he meets who dreams of coaching baseball and who serves as an interpreter. “Million Dollar Arm” loses a lot of its fun factor here, partly because Arkin’s character exits the proceedings and partly because the pressure mounts on J.B. as they get closer to a tryout for MLB personnel men. Thankfully, “Mad Men” star Hamm proves to be a great casting choice, pulling off the tricky balance between being a business-savvy sports agent and a decent dude. And “Million Dollar Arm” boasts a welcome romantic subplot, J.B. developing feelings for the lovely aspiring doctor to whom he rents his guest house, Brenda (Lake Bell). Hamm and Bell enjoy a nice chemistry, which helps a lot. Sharma and Patel are fine, nothing more. To be fair to the actors, their characters aren’t all that interesting. Fortunately, the scenes with them usually also involve Tripathy, who provides constant laughs. Although it would have been nice if screenwriter Tom McCarthy — the talented writer-director of “The Station Agent,” “The Visitor” and Win/Win” — had found a way to make us care about Dinesh and Rinku just a little more, his script as a whole is very laudable. And Craig Gillespie, who’s 2007 film “Lars and the Real Girl” was nicely done, does fine in the director’s chair here. PG. 2 hours, 4 minutes. 3 stars
“A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST” — Oh, what to make of you, Seth MacFarlane? You are at times borderline-brilliant and at others as dumb as the dumbest of rocks. Well, not you exactly, but the material you produce. MacFarlane is the creator of the hugely popular, at times very crass and usually unsatisfying animated series “Family Guy,” as well as the director and co-writer of the largely enjoyable (if often crass) 2012 comedy “Ted.” He’s also a voice artist, bringing to life Peter Griffin and other “Family Guy” characters, as well as the potty-mouthed, digitally created teddy bear at the center of “Ted.” He’s back in another live-action feature, “A Million Ways to Die in the West,” this time starring as an actual human character along with directing, co-writing and co-producing. The movie is everything good and bad about MacFarlane rolled into one package; it’s crass, sweet, clever, stupid, not all that cohesive and, ultimately, more enjoyable than not. MacFarlane portrays Albert Stark, a sheep farmer in 1882 Arizona who is dumped by girlfriendLouise (Amanda Seyfried), who immediately takes up with Foy (Neil Patrick Harris), the cocky and exquisitely mustached proprietor of the town mustachery. Albert is very distraught, but then the beautiful and mysterious Anna (Charlize Theron) walks into his life. Albert helps Anna escape a bar fight, and the two become fast friends. He tells her about his broken heart, and she decides to help him win Louise back. Unbeknownst to Albert, though, Anna is the wife of notorious and deadly outlaw Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson). Their marriage is an unhappy one, but that doesn’t mean Clinch won’t be enraged when he learns another man has been spending time with his lady.Soon enough, Albert will have bigger problems than a broken heart. The good, the bad and, yes, the ugly is peppered throughout “A Million Ways to Die in the West.” Co-written by frequent MacFarlane cohorts Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, the movie has a fun premise: that its hero hates all aspects of life on the frontier and believes “everything that isn’t you is trying to kill you,” from criminals to disease to the town’s doctor and pastor. One man, right on cue, dies from the toxicity of his own gas. But, just as they have with “Family Guy,” the trio struggles when it comes to focused storytelling, never passing on the opportunity to show a man getting hit in the face, or slammed in the crotch or uncontrollably relieving himself at a very unfortunate time. On the other hand, again, “A Million Ways to Die in the West” has just the right amount of cameos — we won’t spoil them even if the previews do — and inside jokes relating to, for instance, Harris’ character on “How I Met Your Mother” or the size of Seyfried’s eyes. Not surprisingly, MacFarlane’s a mixed bag as an actor. He has a certain charm, to be sure, but he seems a little awkward and unsure of himself at times here. However, just as her character teaches his how to be a better version of himself, Theron seems to prop up MacFarlane in every scene they share. It’s as if merely sharing the frame with the talented actress (“Monster,” “Young Adult”) infuses him with more talent. Maybe it’s that they simply share an easy chemistry, and that’s enough. If you’ve seen the very funny red band trailer for “A Million Ways to Die in the West,” you’ve seen the best parts. Nevertheless, there are more laughs to be had, and let’s face it: No matter how many times you see the giant block of ice crushing a man — and Albert yelling, “That went south so fast!” — you’re going to laugh. Similarly, you may want more from MacFarlane in general, but you’re going to laugh. R. 1 hour, 56 minutes. 2.5 stars
“NEIGHBORS” — The best chance “Neighbors” has at making a box-office killing is that no one plays Seth Rogen quite like Seth Rogen. The second best is that teen boys and 20-something men will always laugh at jokes about breasts and sex toys. OK, I laughed at some of those, too. But — and maybe this isn’t fair — if you’re looking for “Neighbors” to join “Animal House” in the annals of great frat house comedies, expect to be disappointed. “Neighbors” isn’t even on par with “Revenge of the Nerds.” Rogen plays Mac Radner, a guy making the transition from party dude to buckled-down adult, complete with idyllic new house, a lovely wife named Kelly (a funny, occasionally unhinged Rose Byrne), an incredibly cute new baby and a stable if unspectacular office job. Just when Mac seems to have talked himself into this way of life, college fraternity Delta Psi moves in next door. Led by Teddy Sanders (a very convincing Zac Efron), the lads break out sex, drugs and booze on the sidewalk before they even finish unloading the moving truck, while Mac and Kelly look on in horror. Bingo! We have the conflict that will produce hilariously uncomfortable situations scene after scene. Or that’s the plan, anyway. It works — to a point. But I couldn’t help waiting for the defining gag or peak moment in “Neighbors” that would have me still chuckling when I left the theater. It never came (a breast-pumping scene came closest). The back-and-forth between the couple and the frat house has its moments — especially when Mac and Kelly insert themselves into the parties on various sabotage missions. But in general, it seems the strategy by director Nicholas Stoller and screenwriters Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O’Brien was to make things as crazy and noisy as possible and hope it would be enough to make us laugh. With some better writing, “Neighbors” could have been a much more substantial movie. Instead, we have a film that will entertain some younger moviegoers but will be dismissed by those who have seen enough clever frat movies to realize that this is not one of them. R. 1 hour, 36 minutes.
“X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST” — The movie seemingly has so much going for it that you couldn’t help but be optimistic. Bryan Singer, the director of the first two “X-Men” movies (the best ones), is back at the helm for a tale that unites well-known characters from the present with those established in the 1960s-set, Matthew Vaughn-directed “X-Men: First Class.” And the cast boasts familiar faces from all of the “X-Men” movies, including Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Nicholas Hoult and Ellen Page, to name a few. But the time travel-powered story told in “X-Men: Days of Future Past” — which might as well have been called “X-Men: Back to the Future” — has some serious chinks in its armor. Maybe they could go back in time and rewrite the script? Life isn’t great for mutantkind when the tale begins. Large, shapeshifting, virtually indestructible robots called Sentinels have been hunting not only mutants but human who’ve tried to help them. A small band of mutants that includes Professor X (Stewart), his onetime nemesis Magneto (McKellen), Wolverine (Jackman) and others are on the constant run, using the time-travel abilities of Kitty Pryde (Page) to jump back a few days to avoid getting snuffed out by the killing machines. The X-Men hatch a plan: Kitty will send Wolverine’s consciousness back in time to 1973 to stop the event that started this war: shapeshifter Mystique’s (Jennifer Lawrence) murder of Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage of “Game of Thrones”). When Mystique killed Trask, the developer of the Sentinel program, it spurred the government to go ahead with his program, leading to all this death and destruction. The objective of Wolverine, aka Logan, is to convince young Professor X (McAvoy) and young Magneto, aka Erik Lehnsherr (Fassbender), to help convince Mystique, aka Raven, that killing Trask won’t make things better. Complicating matters are that the crippled Professor X is a depressed mess, having turned to a medication administered by Hank McCoy (Hoult), aka Beast, that allows him to walk but strips him of his telepathic powers. That “Days of Future Past” is fun fairly often, especially in its first half, is its best quality. Logan’s interactions with others continue to be a great source for humor, thanks largely to Jackman, who’s portrayed the character — at least briefly — in every “X-Men” film, including two solo adventures. But the story is convoluted and badly constructed. The first few minutes of the movie are crammed with exposition and feel rushed. Worse, you know that everything going on in the film’s present day won’t matter if and when Logan completes his mission, so it’s difficult to be invested in it. Singer has talked openly about wanting to correct what he sees as mistakes made by Rattner and with Co. with “The Last Stand,” and you start to get the idea that was the main reason for going the time-travel route. “The Last Stand” did have its problems, but fixing them shouldn’t have been Singer’s primary objective with “Days of Future Past.” PG-13. 2 hours, 14 minutes. 2 stars